By Sandra Kitt
Penguin Books, USA New york Paperback: $5.99 When W.E.B. DuBois wrote about the "challenge of the color line" in his historic 1903 collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folks, the scholar meditated on the schism between communities of color and the Anglo power structure. Today, near the start of another millennium, we seem just as obsessed by racial issues, although today's concerns are in some ways more ambiguous than what DuBois and his contemporaries faced in segregated America.
In recent years, numerous nonfiction titles have tackled racial issues from a variety of perspectives and themes, including those written by African American. Such intellectually challenging and often controversial writings reflect not only the myriad views that abound on the subject of race, they also measure the deep intensity such issues continue to hold for us.
One fiction writer who relishes tackling social issues in her highly stylized writing is Sandra Kitt. A genre writer, Kitt has established a niche in the very competitive field of romance novels. One generation ago, such stories featuring African American heroines and heroes were virtually unheard of. Now Kitt is part of a thriving legion of writers of color who have found readers -- and more importantly, publishers -- willing to look at love in parameters other than blond hair and blue eyes. However, once she mastered the essentials of this genre -- pacing, conflict, resolution -- Kitt says she looked for more challenge as a writer. Her next book, which was just submitted to the publisher in January, is called Between Friends.
Her eighteenth novel, this upcoming book is one she describes as, "a very layered look at the experiences of a biracial adult." Previous titles include: Suddenly, a novel touching on the impact of pediatric AIDS in the African American community; and The Color of Love, the story of the interracial attraction between a white male cop and a Black female book designer. In her current novel, Significant Others, she sketches perceptions of love, identity and color in a provocative way.
